NEW YORK (Reuters) - Investors looking for more evidence that a years-long correlation between commodity prices and financial markets is well and truly dead have found it this year in two of the industry's more remote corners. Fueled by extreme weather conditions in both hemispheres, benchmark U.S. natural gas and coffee futures prices have surged about 50 percent this year, after languishing out of favor for years. The ferocity of the gains -- including...

By Dr. Ruth Westheimer, (copyright) 1996 Karola Inc., All Rights Reserved. Distributed by King Features Syndicate | July 18, 1996

Q. Is it acceptable to chew gum while kissing? Isn't this unromantic and unpassionate? A. To my way of thinking, chewing gum is not acceptable at all, and certainly not while kissing. I can understand that some people chew gum to freshen up their mouth, but as soon as they are in a situation where they are talking to someone else, no less kissing, they should make certain to get rid of that piece of gum. I can't imagine anything less romantic than kissing someone who...

By Mike Dolan LONDON, April 5 (Reuters) - The investment herd is scattering again in a sign of less stressful times, encouraged by resolute central bank protection even if scarce growth and jobs may deter funds from straying too far. One of the defining features of the crisis of the past six years has been hyper-correlation of global markets - where assets as diverse as equities and commodities, high-yield debt or emerging markets...

Reagan is getting $2 million for speaking engagements in Japan. Surprise! Is there a correlation between this fee and the very little done to halt the unequal trade practices between America and Japan during the Reagan years? Is there a correlation between this fee and the U.S. Navy protecting oil supply lines in the Persian Gulf, oil on which Japan is far more dependent than America? Japan paid nothing to protect its own oil interests but received free protection from Reagan.

Winners of the Indianapolis 500 drink milk to celebrate their victory; perhaps winners of the Nobel Prizes do the same after receiving a congratulatory phone call from Stockholm. That's one theory to explain why countries in which people drink the most milk, per capita, also win the most Nobel Prizes, per capita, according to a new study. Take Sweden, the country that's home to the Nobel Prize. Citizens there have won 31.86 prizes for every 10 million people. They also consume about 940 pounds of milk each, on...

As long as the United States and our allies continue occupying sovereign nations and imposing our beliefs upon other cultures, we will only provoke further terrorist attacks. I hope that this administration will realize this correlation, remove our young men and women from harm's way, and make our homeland a safer place for all.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - U.S. hospital admissions for child abuse have risen in the past decade, and the increase may be related to the housing crisis of recent years, a study suggests. Researchers found that between 2000 and 2009, admissions for physical abuse at U.S. pediatric hospitals peaked in 2008 - right about the time housing foreclosures were taking off in many parts of the country. In general, as a local area's rate of delinquent mortgages and housing...

Your article concerning Will County's plan to crack down on "child support deadbeats" was very biased against fathers and men in general. Nowhere in the article did it state that mothers deny fathers their court-ordered visitation rights. And nowhere in the article did it state that there is a correlation between denial of visitation rights and payment of support. Why is it that only fathers are prosecuted for not following the law and mothers aren`t?

Dear Amy: I am concerned about my daughter, who is expecting her first baby soon. She and her husband have a black Labrador retriever who is about 3 years old and is out of control. The dog refuses to obey commands, jumps on everyone, barks incessantly and demands to stand between my daughter and anyone else. I cannot imagine what bringing a newborn baby into the mix will do! I am very concerned about the baby's safety. My daughter and her husband are very protective of the...

By Dr. Ruth Westheimer, (copyright) 1995 Karola Inc., All Rights Reserved. Distributed by King Features Syndicate | July 31, 1995

Q. My new boyfriend is an excellent dancer and I would like to know, is there a correlation between good dancers and good sex? A. If you ever saw the film "Dirty Dancing," you would think so. But even in real life, I think there might be because somebody who is a good dancer knows how to move his or her body, has a good sense of rhythm, is probably in good physical shape and also has a love of life, all that would work well when having sex. ...

Rihanna didn't "wake up" until after the final notes played at a crowded United Center on Wednesday -- the 22-year-old singer's impressive, 90-minute performance took place "Inception"-like, within her dreams. Supported by a six-piece band and two backing singers, Rihanna escorted us inside her nightmares, the hellish onstage imagery matching the dark, metallic crunch of songs like "Russian Roulette" and "Hard," the latter of which she performed while straddling the turret of a...

Don't think that 62-cent increase Wednesday in the federal cigarette tax, to $1.01 per pack, will be all that regressive? Take a look at a Gallup-Healthways study last year of smoking by income groups. The survey of more than 75,000 people found a close correlation between income and smoking rates, consistent in every category except the lowest bracket, which is populated by many students.

"The more body art you have, the more likely you are to be involved in deviance." So says Jerome Koch, a sociologist with Texas Tech University's Body Art Team -- true moniker -- which surveyed 1,753 students at four colleges and found a correlation between multiple tattoos or piercings and "deviant behavior." The severally inked or pierced at the unnamed Midwestern and Southern colleges said they engaged in, roughly speaking, more promiscuity, more drug use, more binge drinking, more arrests...

Contrast, if you will, the May 16 account of the 2004 Illinois High School All-State Academic Team, which describes some of its 10 members as being actively involved in music in one form or another, with the May 14 story "Song stays the same: Cut music." Administrators and politicians alike who want to continue to foster academic excellence in our schools should take note of the correlation and work to raise adequate funding to produce well-rounded and stimulated students.

Don't think that 62-cent increase Wednesday in the federal cigarette tax, to $1.01 per pack, will be all that regressive? Take a look at a Gallup-Healthways study last year of smoking by income groups. The survey of more than 75,000 people found a close correlation between income and smoking rates, consistent in every category except the lowest bracket, which is populated by many students.

Dear Tom, Is there a correlation between the amount of snow we receive and Lake Michigan's water temp? Greg Prange Elgin, Ill. Dear Greg, There is a definite correlation between lake temperatures and snowfall. Lake effect snow is generally heavier when very cold air passes over a warmer-than-normal lake. Some of the biggest lake snow events occur in the fall or early winter, when bitterly cold air traverses a still warm Lake Michigan. However,...

Have you been listening to Pink Floyd's "Comfortably Numb" over and over again on your iPod? Is R.E.M's "Everybody Hurts" stuck in your head? Science now has an explanation: A recent study published in the journal Psychology of Music found that songs that are slower in tempo, longer in duration and more meaningful and romantic in content tend to be most popular during tough economic times. "Music is a reflection of what's going on in our culture," said Terry F. Pettijohn, a professor at...

"The more body art you have, the more likely you are to be involved in deviance." So says Jerome Koch, a sociologist with Texas Tech University's Body Art Team -- true moniker -- which surveyed 1,753 students at four colleges and found a correlation between multiple tattoos or piercings and "deviant behavior." The severally inked or pierced at the unnamed Midwestern and Southern colleges said they engaged in, roughly speaking, more promiscuity, more drug use, more binge drinking, more arrests...